US Intermission

For Eid al Fitr (the Feast to End the Fast), Tank and I headed back to the States. His college roommate, my oil painting buddy, and all-around True Nordic friend Leif was getting married. Leif’s wedding almost perfectly lined up with the Eid — so we decided to make a mini vacay out of it.

AMERICA OR BUST. Right??

Jonathan is ridiculous when it comes to using his kindle case instead of (the horror!) holding his kindle in his hands. (So common…) Exhibit A:

8/16/2012

Our reading material for the trip: me = The Russian Debutante’s Handbook by Gary Shteyngart, Jonathan = book 5 of A Song of Ice and Fire.

Our flights were a little OOC on the way here. We flew Tel Aviv to NYC where I finally had one of these:

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*Bliss*

Then it was NYC to Atlanta — our flight was delayed, which left us with 10 minutes in Atlanta to make our connection to MSP. We ran. And made it.

Once in Minneapolis, I was ecstatic. I really regretted not meeting someone at the airport — all I wanted to do was see someone I knew, run up to them, hug them, and talk their ear off. It was truly an unexpected urge.

After buying Naked juice and a bottle of water, we picked up the car and headed for the Mall of America.

You would think this would be overwhelming. You’d be wrong. It was awesome. Jonathan and I shopped for a few hours before meeting up with a few friends for dinner at Chipotle (natch) and a ride on the somewhat-new TMNT ride, Shell Shock. By about 9 pm, exhaustion set in. To the rental car!

We stayed in Northfield for two nights for the wedding. In (where else?) the Bridal room of the Archer House.

8/17/2012

I only have good things to say about this place. It is amazing. If you’re ever in Northfield, MN: stay here!

The wedding was Friday afternoon. Before the ceremony I got my hair cut (& styled) for the first time since January! Here is my “After” shot. In other news, I wish my hair was curly.

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While home, i tried to eat all my favorite things. To that end: Chobani for breakfast and Qdoba for lunch.

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The wedding was held in Boe Chapel at St. Olaf College. It was gorgeous.

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The reception was held at The Grand. All of the Oles were sequestered in the box seats overlooking the bridal party at the “Melby Chapel” table. Is this because Leif (rightly?) feared what we would do? Probably. We still tried to lead the clinking of the glasses as much as possible.

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It was my first wedding with a photo booth. We had fun with that.

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We had a blast at the wedding (and were only slightly jet lagged!).

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LLAP, Old Main. It’s been real.

8/18/2012

The next day, we took a detour down through Shakopee to visit….

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The MN Renaissance Festival! (Thanks, Dad!)

We bought our limited edition stein and soaked up the costumes, jousts, and ye olde timey-ness of the day. And turkey legs. Can’t forget the turkey legs!

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After this, I got the flu or a cold or something. (Just my MN luck…) But I still managed to have some good times.

This was followed by a few days spent with family. Visiting, eating, and shopping. I loved every second of it.

Thank you friends & family for a wonderful trip!!

8/23/2012

The trip home featured a 14 hour layover in Amsterdam that would have been awesome were it not for the aforementioned illness. I still managed to make it out for breakfast pannekoeken, as the Beastie Boys prescribe, with a friend from DC (who randomly happened to be in town) and some light sight seeing before heading back to Schiphol airport to rent a cabin in the Yotel where I slept for about 7 hours straight. Now that was bliss.